Vegan Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice

Before I met Janik — in what I call my “meat-centric” days — butter chicken was always one of my top picks at any Indian restaurant next to samosas (of course). More recently, my brother-in-law would make us a vegetarian version of this quintessential Indian dish using paneer as a substitute for chicken. It was incredible. I recall asking J.F. for the recipe at one time but to my disappointment was told “I don’t have a recipe…I just threw it together”.Since I’m on a curry kick still these days and getting more and more comfortable with the capabilities of my Thermomix I set out to create the ultimate vegan butter chicken recipe that could be made in less than 30 minutes… Using fresh, ripened on-the-vine tomatoes and this medley of fragrant spices are key to the success of this recipe. Using soaked cashews not only helps to thicken the sauce but adds a hint of nutty flavour that complements the curry flavour. My daughter is an incredibly picky eater and she ate her entire plate of this dish so I immediately knew I had a Vegan Rhapsody-worth dish on my hands. If you’re looking for a soup to accompany this dish I would highly recommend our Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup and some roti (of course). I would love to hear how this turns out if you have a chance to try it for yourself.

Enjoy!

Preparation

3/Rinse 2 blocks (350g pkg x 2) of extra-firm tofu in cold water. Using a dry tea towel wrap each block of tofu and squeeze to release as much water as possible. Cut into bite-size pieces and set aside.

Instructions

1/Place onion, garlic and ginger in your Thermomix mixing bowl. Chop 5 sec/Speed 7. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl to collect the onion-garlic-ginger mixture at the base of the bowl.

2/Add oil, spices (garam masala through turmeric), salt and pepper in the TM bowl. Sauté 3 min/120C/Speed 1. Once again, scrape down the sides of the bowl using a spatula.

Note: This recipe was made using a Thermomix appliance, however it can easily be adapted using similar food prep tools (e.g. mutli-function processor, immersion blender etc) or using a more traditional stovetop method.